Question 1: Oh yes.
Came out of high school as part of the triumvirate "ruling" (lol) the smartest kids bunch and having entrance test scores off "99th percentile for college bound". Went to well-known university. Changed majors like socks (haha, not quite). The second one was completely unrelated to the first. For it, I pulled off getting exempted from the entire first year of that program(!) (art) by presenting past work. (In other words, they were going to let me go into sophomore year based on high school work, some of which I'd done in 9th grade. They didn't know THAT, haha!) Cool! Right? Yeah, but dropped out of it a couple weeks in anyway, changing again. It was all quite something and I was having a GREAT time. First semester of 3rd year, it all came to a screeching halt. BOOM! Massive depression out of nowhere. In.ca.pa.ci.ta.ted. For months. Had no idea wtf was happening. There wasn't much in the way of help in those days. Dropped out.

Things got pretty out of hand then.

A decade later, wanted to take another go at it, but realized I'd never stay stable enough to make it through 4 years, so I'd go for a 2 year. (Even with the above realization, I had NO CLUE about bipolar(!) ) Community college, finished first in my major. (Finished! Woo!)

Another decade, popped by a different cc to inquire about a program, got shuttled (sly-talked) into another one (their hardest. On account of "being smart". But I contend dumb, because it expected perfection in everything I am worst at, and had no use whatsoever for the things I am good at! What an idiot. It sent me sui. Toughed it out for a year to not be a "quitter". Hated every f'in second. Boatloads of ideation. See, dumb. Agreed?)

Following year switched gears completely into a MUCH more suitable program (hey, whaddya know, an art again….) Even told I was the most creative person ever to go through that major(!) (And not by someone on the make, lol). But I didn't finish. Spread the classes out over a few years, took nearly all of them, but didn't care about that one part, so blew it off. Worked doing it independently as a side job.

AFTER all this, found out I had BP.

Question 2: No doubt.
I don't know which major it would've ended up to be in, but I totally could have finished on the first round. I had no trouble with the coursework. I know my story isn't exactly encouraging (ya think?!), BUT! It is MUCH different today! Accommodations, less stigma, more resources. Just knowing you have BP is a huge help! You can structure things accordingly, spread classes out or whatever. Heck, just knowing it's cyclical!

I was in COMPLETE ignorance in a very different time.